First reading, first hope. The text has not yet been passed, but it already marks a turning point. What follows is a preliminary assessment of the draft law for a Solidary and Sustainable Food System, adopted by the Geneva State Council on 7 October 2025. A close reading reveals its ambition: to translate the right to food into public policy, to rebuild food governance, and to recognize the actors who have been laying the groundwork for years.
The Draft Law for a Solidary and Sustainable Food System gives substance to Article 38A of the Geneva Constitution, adopted in 2023:
“Every person has the right to adequate food and to be free from hunger.”
Behind that simple sentence lies a profound transformation. Food is no longer treated as an act of charity or goodwill; it becomes a public obligation.
The text introduces concrete mechanisms: a public foundation to coordinate the system, a clear division of responsibilities between canton and municipalities, permanent funding, and binding rules on production, catering, health, and sustainability.
For the first time in Switzerland, a canton attempts to link social urgency, ecological transition, and public health within a single right.
For those working in social gastronomy, one passage stands out: Article 25, which governs collaboration with distribution sites and shops.
It requires partner structures — shops, collective restaurants, solidarity grocery stores, or associations — to:
In other words, the law institutionalizes inclusive and sustainable dining.
What was once driven by civil society now becomes public policy.
The spirit of Article 25 is that of the Refettorio Geneva: an open, beautiful, and socially engaged table. A space where culinary quality and social justice meet.
In this sense, Article 25 is almost a “Refettorio Article” — a legislative translation of a simple idea: you fight hunger not with leftovers, but with dignity.
The text explicitly names Fondation Partage, Geneva’s food bank for the past two decades:
“The Canton provides financial support to the food bank, namely the Fondation Partage […].”
The law stabilizes its public funding — CHF 4.5 million per year — and acknowledges its essential role.
But it also notes a structural shift:
“Donations and unsold goods are no longer sufficient […]. This mixed supply system requires the Fondation Partage to evolve into a purchasing center.”
This is a lucid acknowledgment.
Partage is no longer merely a collector of surplus; it has become a logistical and procurement actor in its own right.
A legal clarification will be needed: distinguishing the food-bank function (recovery of surplus) from that of a central purchasing body (structured sourcing).
This evolution is not a problem in itself — it shows maturity — but it should be explicitly recognized in the final version of the law for transparency’s sake.
Article 3 establishes an obligation of exemplarity:
the State must adopt, in its own catering, the very standards it promotes.
Menus must be local and seasonal; suppliers are subject to regular audits; vending machines with sugary drinks or ultra-processed foods are banned.
Schools, hospitals, prisons, and public cafeterias must all comply.
It is both a public-health measure and a political statement: the State eats as it preaches.
Chapter VII introduces a historic advance:
“The destruction of unsold edible food is prohibited in retail, except for sanitary reasons.”
This long-awaited measure aligns Geneva with the federal goal of halving food waste by 2030.
But its scope is incomplete: it does not cover the F&B sector (restaurants, hotels, caterers, cafés, private canteens).
Yet this sector has both the skills and infrastructure to adapt easily: professionals already know how to preserve, transform, redistribute, or reuse surplus food.
The obstacle is not technical but cultural and economic.
The future regulations should therefore extend the ban to the F&B sector while introducing a system of positive incentives:
tax rebates, “anti-waste” labels, priority access to public tenders, or subsidies for donation logistics.
Experience shows that chefs, restaurateurs, and hoteliers are willing — and that with a few rewards, the transition can happen smoothly.
Including F&B within the law’s scope would make perfect sense: it would signal that every actor in the food chain, from farm to table, contributes to the right to food.
The law acts across the entire food cycle:
It connects health with environment, economy with dignity, and places cuisine at the heart of social policy.
The Geneva Foundation for a Solidary and Sustainable Food System will be the operational core.
With an initial CHF 200 000 endowment, it will unite the canton, municipalities, and civil society within a mixed board.
It will manage food cards, coordinate partners, oversee financial flows, and publish annual reports.
This shared-governance model mirrors successful European examples, balancing public control, operational autonomy, and citizen participation.
This draft law is far more than administrative reform — it is a democratic re-foundation of food.
By consolidating Partage, giving structure to social-gastronomy initiatives like the Refettorio, banning the destruction of edible food, and demanding State exemplarity, Geneva is moving toward an integrated vision of the right to food.
Some clarifications remain — defining Partage’s dual role, extending the anti-waste framework to the F&B sector, securing long-term resources — but the direction is unmistakable.
For the first time, Geneva treats food not as a commodity but as a common good.
And if one looks closely, one can already see, behind the legal text, the table of the Refettorio itself: beautiful, simple, and open to all.